Brain Core Part 2

Summing up Part 1: 

- Philosophical discussions feel more like self-aggrandizing circle jerks, wishful thinking, and fruitless games rather than a constructive and worthwhile means of actual growth.

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- New Age and self-help cultures have done more harm than good in this regard, encouraging thoughtless behaviour, and divorcing causes from effects.

(Ultimately knowledge only leads to empowerment when theoretical understanding translates into appropriate application. But the waters have been so muddied about the power of the mind that the subject has lost all credibility in public perception. Hence, for most people, it's become more sensible to focus on acting effectively rather than thinking clearly.

Of course, the doing is where it all happens, but proper thinking is not only 20% of the efforts that lead to 80% of the success (see: Pareto's principle), it also allows one to identify and troubleshoot their process and circumstances. The greatest power of the mind is the ability to forge a path between potential and actualization. 

Let's focus on how to develop that ability more easily.)

Start of Part 2:

While everything seems to be changing, one thing remains the same: Our own actions and reactions are the still in our control. Personal mastery and good efforts don't magically make you immune to life's harships, but they certainly improve your chances of coming out on top. So what's the big deal with beliefs anyway? The idea is that we all have certain fundamental assumptions that we internally accept about ourself, the world, and other people. These basic ideas are the seeds that yield our emotional reactions, unconscious actions, and general behavior in any given circumstance. They say that by changing what you feed your subconsious brain through positive affirmations, you can alter those fundamental beliefs, and thus, transform your over all experience in life.

Except that the theory presumes that our interpretation of events and evaluations of people are just a matter of putting on a different hat. It seems to me that beliefs are formed by lived experiences and felt feelings. You can change your beliefs as much as you can control your own feelings. Can people control their feelings at all? Of course they can, so many people do, but they do it through ways that involve taking deliberate actions. What would be the various steps or factors included in this process? For one, it requires a deeper understanding of oneself and of other people. What we call processing of emotions must happen at peak efficiency.

Processing emotions entails allowing yourself to feel the feeling, without getting swept away by the experience. Neither going with the flow of the feeling, nor being totally detached from it. Does it also require an intellectual understanding of the episode after the initial wave? I'm not so sure. Emotions have always acted like a compass for me. Whenever I feel something, I take it as a message from my unconscious that's trying to tell me something I'm not fully aware of. Acknowledgement of the situation and the root cause of the emotion seems like a vital part of processing that shit to me. But honestly I'm not so sure about that part. What else? I suppose a person would also proactively make sure all their needs are met, so that they remain regulated and calm in the first place. 

Still, it's not like people control their emotions with an iron fist, it's a relative skill. That's the real heart of the matter for me. I believe there are certain skills involved in thinking clearly. Unleashing the power of the mind, and gaining a better hold on your life entails the mastery of those mental skills. For one, there's the most essential skill of pattern recognition. Observation, identification, being able to see where one thing ends and another begins, the ability to differentiate between two things, and finding similarities as well. I've learned a lot through comparing things that are different and understanding them better through contrast. All these things depend on the ability to see. They all seem to be connected.

Then there's the associative mechanism that ties everything together and makes connections. It's always better to connect new information to things you are already familiar with. Broadly speaking, I think I can label this group of processes under the umbrella of receiving information. For the brain, these various tasks seem to fulfill that singular goal. But it's not just about taking it all in, is it? Assimilating information involves deciphering data into meaningful and usable conclusions. With assimilation, the information is organized, longer lasting, and more readily available for future reference. All this involves thinking as well. 

Continued in Part 3.